UFC TO DEBUT ON NETWORK TELEVISION JUNE 25 ON FSN’SBEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD ‘ALL-STAR SUMMER’ CELEBRATIONExclusive Fight Card to Introduce Ultimate Fighting to American Sports Fans

LAS VEGAS, June 17, 2002…The Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading ultimate fighting sports event, will make its debut on basic cable television Tuesday, June 25, on the Fox Sports Network’s Best Damned Sports Show Period "All-Star Summer" Celebration. The BDSSP’s All-Star Summer will be filled with big-name guests from the worlds of sports and entertainment from June 24 to July 19. The two-hour show airs nightly at 8:00 p.m. and/or 11:00 p.m. local time on most Fox Sports Net regional sports networks, and at 10:00 p.m. and midnight on FSN Bay Area, Chicago, Florida, New England, New York and Ohio.
BDSSP’s feature match, a welterweight battle between undefeated up-and-comer Robbie Lawler (5-0-0) of Davenport, Iowa, and veteran Steve Berger (15-7-3) of St. Louis, Mo., and highlights from four other bouts will round out the coverage. The telecast marks the first time that cable audiences can see a UFC fight without a pay-per-view charge, so ultimate fighting is almost certain to have its largest audience ever.
The fights will be videotaped at an exclusive six-fight show starting at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 22, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The main event will be a light heavyweight elimination bout between top contenders Chuck Liddell (9-1-0) from San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Vitor Belfort (10-2-0) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The winner will meet UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz for his title later this year. Liddell and Belfort are two of the world’s top-ranked ultimate fighters. Their fight will not be aired on BDSSP or the Fox Sports Network June 25. It will air on a UFC pay-per-view television show in August.
"Ultimate fighting is a real sport and our fighters are world-class athletes. Sports fans will now have the opportunity to see that our brand of fighting is as real as it gets," said Dana White, UFC president.
The public can purchase tickets for the event, $150, $100, $50 and $25, at the Bellagio box office or by calling 702-693-7722 or 1-888-488-7111. Good seats are available in all price ranges.
The other fights, two welterweight bouts, a middleweight fight and a lightweight match, will be a showcase of UFC talent of the future.
Lawler made his UFC debut May 10 at UFC: High Impact in Bossier City, La., with a unanimous decision over Aaron Riley of Seattle, Wash., in a fight that most experts are calling one of the best in UFC history. Berger will be a real test for Lawler. He has the most experience of anyone on the card with 25 professional bouts. In another welterweight match, Benji Radach (11-0-0) of Olympia, Wash., will return to the Octagon to face Nick Serra (5-0-0) of Long Island, N.Y., who will make his UFC debut. He is the younger brother of lightweight contender Matt Serra. The third welterweight bout will feature two newcomers, Pete Spratt (10-4-0) of Sherman, Tex., versus Zach Light (11-1-1) of Corona, Calif., who is a member of Ortiz’ Team Punishment. In the lightweight fight, newcomer Joao Pierini (5-0-0) of Redwood City, Calif., meets veteran Yves Edwards (8-5-1) of The Woodlands, Tex. Tony Fryklund (6-1-0) of Davenport, Iowa, and UFC newcomer Rodrigo Ruas (1-0-1) of Rio de Janeiro, the nephew of legendary UFC champion Marco Ruas, will meet in the middleweight division.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., is the world’s leading ultimate fighting sports event. It is owned and operated by Zuffa LLC and has partnerships with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) in London, England; WOWOW, Inc. in Tokyo, Japan, and Globosat Programmadora LTDA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It also has a partnership with Crave Entertainment, which creates and markets UFC video games in PlayStation, PlayStation2, Xbox and GameCube in retail outlets and on www.ufcvideogame.com. The Ultimate Fighting Championship brings together the world’s most talented ultimate fighting athletes from disciplines such as jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, boxing, wrestling and others in a quest to become an ultimate fighting champion. For more information, see the web site at www.ufc.tv.